Dawn of All eBook

(II)

The two said nothing as they went out through the
dimly lighted hall. Overhead hung the old banners
in the high wooden roof; a great fire blazed on the
hearth; and under the musician’s gallery at
the farther end they saw the bright little window behind
which sat the secretary.

They stopped here and peered in.

He was seated with his back to them before an instrument
not altogether unlike an old-fashioned organ.
A long row of black keys was in front of him; and
half a dozen stops protruded on either side.
Before him, in the front, a glass panel protected
some kind of white sheet; and as the priest looked
in he could see a movement as of small bluish sparks
playing upon this. He had long ago made up his
mind not to attempt to understand modern machinery;
and he had no kind of idea what all this meant, beyond
a guess that the keys were for sending messages, and
the white sheet for receiving them.

“Any news?” said the General suddenly.

The secretary did not move or answer. His hands
were before him, hidden, and he appeared entirely
absorbed.

It must have been a minute before he turned round,
drawing out as he did so from before him a slip of
paper like those he had already brought in.

“This is from Rye, sir,” he said shortly.
“They too have lost communication with Parliament
Square. That is all, sir. I must take this
in at once.”

The two passed on, still without speaking; and it
was not until they were going slowly up the long covered
staircase that ran inside the skirting wall that connected
the keep with the more modern part of the castle that
Monsignor began——­

“I’m very ignorant,” he said.
“Can you tell me the possibilities?”

The General paused before answering.

“Well,” he said, “the worst possibility
is a riot, engineered by the Socialists. If that
is successful, it means a certain delay of at least
several years; and, at the worst, it means that the
Socialists will increase enormously throughout Europe.
And then anything may happen.”

“But I thought that all real danger was past,
and that the Socialists were discredited.”

“Certainly, in one sense. In every country,
that is to say, they are in a negligible minority.
But if all these minorities are added together, they
are not negligible at all. The Cabinet has produced
this Bill suddenly, as of course you know, in order
to prevent any large Continental demonstration, as
this would certainly have a tremendous effect upon
England. But it seems that they’ve been
organizing for months. They must have known this
was coming . . .”

“And if the Socialists fail?”

“Well, then they’ll make their last stand
in Germany. But you know this better than I do,
Monsignor?”

“I know a good deal here and there,” confessed
the other; “but I find it hard sometimes to
combine it all. I had an illness, you know——­”